This was the fourth "Sayid-centric" episode Lost has done, and the best so far. Hopefully, it will also be the last. Not that he's not an interesting character. It's just that this latest flashback seems to bring his story full circle.

All in all, not a bad episode: questions answered (which means reading beyond this is a bad idea if you haven't watched yet), entertaining flashback, lots of action, and an amusing subplot.

Of course, Lost wouldn't be Lost without answering questions only to create more questions. So we learn that "The Others" and the Dharma Initiative are apparently two separate groups, assuming Mikhail (the Eyepatch guy) isn't lying. Pretending to be the last Dharma survivor, he tells Sayid and Kate that the Others "were here a long time before we were. A very long time."

OK, so this is huge. A lot of us have wondered whether the Others and Dharma are two different groups, and now we know (sort of) that they are. But how long have they been there? Why were they there in the first place? Is Mikhail even telling the truth?

Locke continues to be an enigma, but not in a good way. More in a "What happened to the mysterious, possibly fanatical Locke from the first two seasons?" way. Maybe he needs Jack around, to act as the reason yin to his faith yang. I wish they'd do more with him this season. He's really the most fascinating character, and I'd always hoped he'd turn into one of Lost's out-and-out villains. Of course, that still might happen. In the first season, we saw his willingness to do the wrong things (not telling Jack the truth about Boone's accident, which lead to his death; knocking out Sayid) in the name of what he perceives as some sort of greater good. He'd fit right in with Ben "We're the good guys" Linus and his crew.

The flashback: Much better than the last two. We learn more about Sayid's reluctance to torture, that it may be motivated by empathy as much as guilt. I liked how he broke down in the end not because he was in physical pain, but because his conscience wouldn't allow him to hold back.

And finally, the ping-pong game. Jin's idea (if Sawyer loses, no nicknames for a week) was beautiful, although Sawyer was able to refer to Jin and Sun as "Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon" first. His "Who the hell are you" to Nikki spoke for anyone who watches the show. It would be nice if he'd followed it with "It's almost like you weren't even on this island until right around the time we got captured by the Others," but no luck. Anyway, she and Paolo get their turn in a few weeks. And although the preview for next week's episode reveals a big secret (Jack...Claire...you get it), I'm more interested in seeing what happens to the Eyepatch guy at the gate.

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locke gets his turn in two weeks i believe, but i have come think of desmond as the show's most interesting character, i like locke though. I just think desmond, penny and the potential time travel is really interesting

Posted By: ray | Mar 8, 2007 12:28:12 PM

Desmond is certainly interesting (he gets another flashback a few weeks from now), and I'm really hoping we learn more about the story of Desmond, Penny, and her father before the season ends.

Posted By: Tom | Mar 8, 2007 12:33:03 PM

I was glad to see some focus back on Sayid. He's a great character who largely has been ignored this year, and that was a great flashback.
So is Claire next week's flashback, to let us in on the Jack/Claire secret? We haven't seen much of her, either.

Posted By: bill white | Mar 8, 2007 1:12:21 PM

It seems that way, Bill. John Terry, who plays Christian Shephard, is listed in the cast for next week. If he's not appearing in Claire's flashback, then an even better twist is in store for us. But I think a safer wager is that Claire is the daughter he wanted to see in the Ana Lucia flashback last year.

Posted By: Tom | Mar 8, 2007 1:15:06 PM

I wasn't that crazy about the episode, although it was nice to finally see the eye patch guy (Mikhail) and thought the ping pong substory was a nice touch. I'm going to miss Sawyer's nicknames - I was particularly fond of "Grimace" this week because it reminded me of a friend from college who had the same moniker. Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon were pretty good too. I hope that Sawyer's punishment only lasts one episode.